Winds of Change
by Mai Kusakabe
Summary: Nina Tucker's death was one of Edward Elric's greatest regrets. He refuses to let it happen a second time.


Here is my submission for the fmasecretsanta2018 on tumblr.

I wrote it for rie, and well… after a look at your request and your blog, this came to mind. I'm afraid it's part of an existing 'verse, but I hope you'll like it. All you'd need to know about the 'verse is that Ed traveled back in time, though if you'd like, the previous story is titled Rewind.

* * *

 **Winds of Change**

Edward doesn't hear Roy come in. He's so absorbed in his reading that he doesn't notice Roy's presence at all until Roy sits down on the rug, using Edward's flesh leg as a backrest. Edward does raise his head when Roy offers him a paper without a word, though. There was no complaint about how Edward has taken over the couch, which has become part of their daily routine by now.

"What's this?" he asks, frowning at the offered paper. Papers, Edward realizes. They look like some sort of file.

"Shou Tucker's application for the State Alchemist exam."

Ed lowers his own reading material and takes the file from Roy.

"So soon? It doesn't add up," he says with a frown, opening the file. It's not unlike his own application form, with Tucker's messy signature at the bottom of the page.

"From what I've found, it's not the first time he takes the exam. It's likely he'll fail this one, too."

Yes, Edward agrees, but…

"We can't be sure," he says, setting the file down. "I _think_ he'd been a State Alchemist for two years when we met, but I'm not sure. I'm not taking the risk."

Roy just nods.

* * *

When Edward drags himself into the apartment a week later and announces that Amelia Tucker thought he is crazy, Roy can't say he is surprised. Convincing her that her husband will eventually use her, and later their daughter Nina, as components for his chimera experiments was very unlikely to work, but Edward insisted on trying anyway.

"I'll handle him," Roy says from the rug, and he isn't surprised when Edward freezes mid-step.

"No," Edward growls, whirling around to look at him. His expression is harsh enough, but there is a desperate glint in his eyes that tells Roy that Edward has finally understood what Roy has known since they decided they were going to deal with Shou Tucker.

Roy sets his files aside and stands up. He walks up to Edward, but doesn't quite touch him.

"It's the only option," Roy says softly.

Edward's fisted hands tremble, and he lowers his head.

"I don't want you to kill anybody," he says, barely above a whisper.

"If I don't, we'll have to wait until he turns Amelia into a chimera," Roy tells Edward just as softly as before, and reaches a hand up to rest it on Edward's shoulder. "It's fine, don't worry."

And it is. Roy has more blood on his hands than he will ever be able to atone for. At least this time he will kill to save innocent lives.

Edward leans forward, resting his head on Roy's shoulder.

"I hate this."

* * *

Roy doesn't act immediately. He needs Amelia Tucker to forget about the strange man who approached her about her husband first. At the very least, he needs her to push Edward out of her mind.

So he waits.

He waits for months, until barely a month before the exam that will see a twelve year old Edward Elric become a State Alchemist.

He learns Shou Tucker's routine, which is mind-numbingly boring. Tucker has a dull job as a store clerk, and spends all of his free time in his too large house, no doubt obsessing over his alchemical research. Tucker's shift at the store ends late, and when Roy decides to make his move all he needs to do is wait for a stormy night, intercept Tucker in an empty alley, and shoot him with a transmuted gun. Relieving him of any valuables takes no time at all.

Not even half an hour later, the gun is nothing but dust scattered through East City's sewage system.

* * *

Edward hasn't managed to sleep much over the last week. Right now he wouldn't be able to do it even if he wanted to. Which he doesn't.

Roy is out, and Edward can do nothing but sit here and wait. He knows he would be nothing but a liability if he'd gone with Roy, he knows that Roy is awfully good at covering his tracks, and he knows —as much as it pains him— that this is the best course of action they could follow.

The knowledge doesn't do anything to settle Edward's stomach.

No matter the circumstances, even though he _knows_ what Shou Tucker will do if they give him the chance, the fact remains that someone is about to or might already be dead. And, worse yet, Edward couldn't even do it himself. No, _Roy_ is doing it, because Edward could never kill anyone in cold blood. A fact that Roy has already figured out in the few months since Edward's arrival.

Edward is on his feet the moment he hears the lock turn, but he doesn't advance. Instead, he watches as Roy walks in, trailing water all over the floorboards despite the umbrella he took with him.

It's not until the door is closed again that Roy speaks.

"You're awake." His voice is dull, empty in a way that chills Edward to the bone. He's heard that voice only once before, and the memory of a dark alley and the charred remains of what he believed to be the corpse of Maria Ross is the last thing he wants in his mind right now.

Taking two steps forward, Edward comes within inches from Roy.

"You're soaked through," he says, reaching up to touch Roy's coat. It will need to be washed along with Roy's civilian clothes. What an insignificant fact to notice. "Here, you should have a shower."

Edward takes Roy's hand in his, and pulls him towards the bathroom. Roy lets himself be dragged without a word.

* * *

Shou Tucker is dead, and the world goes on.

His death was little more than a footnote in the following morning's newspaper, just a back street robbery with barely any mention of it afterwards. No public interest and a lack of leads mean the case has gone cold two months after the State Alchemist exam, forgotten in favor of more interesting events.

Edward has almost managed to push Shou Tucker out of his mind by the time Amelia Tucker pulls back a chair at his and Roy's corner table in their street's cafe.

Edward freezes. Next to him, Roy tenses with those minute tells Edward is starting to notice, those that indicate his reaction is no better than Edward's.

Amelia sits silently and sets her cup on the table, and her hand trembles slightly as she lifts something. A folder, Edward realizes.

"You were right," Amelia says with only a sliver of voice, and she puts the folder between them, pushing it at Edward. "About Shou. _You were right_."

Edward's shoulders loosen somewhat when he understands that Amelia isn't here to accuse them of anything, that it's unlikely she even suspects they had anything to do with her husband's death.

Edward reaches for the folder. He opens it with great reluctance. He already knows what he'll find in it, but that doesn't stop him from feeling sick when the half-complete design of an array to use a human with Amelia's complexion as part of a transmutation greets his eyes.

For the first time in months, the dead weight in his stomach fades enough that he can breathe easily. Edward will never be at peace with murder, but perhaps he's starting to understand why Roy can live with this particular one. Perhaps Edward, too, will be able to live with it as well.


End file.
